Carport fire in Huntington Beach destroys townhome, damages 7 cars

A fire that broke out in a carport Thursday night destroyed at least one townhouse unit in Huntington Beach and damaged at least vehicles.

The Fourth of July blaze might have been started by fireworks, although firefighters hadn’t made that determination as of Friday morning.

At about 11:30 p.m. firefighters were called to a vehicle fire in a townhouse complex in the 17000 block of Brittany Lane, said Battalion Chief Jeff Lopez of the Huntington Beach Fire Department.

Firefighters found five vehicles fully engulfed in flames in the carport and an upstairs unit burning, Lopez said.

The fire was spreading quickly, and firefighters responded by aggressively fighting it.

“We got a bunch of resources on it but it took awhile for them to get hold of it,” he said. “(The fire) was fed by the vehicles that were burning fuel below it.”

At least two more vehicles had fire damage before the blaze was put out within about 45 minutes.

The nearby complex had five townhouse units. One was destroyed, a second was heavily damaged and at least three others had some degree of damage.

The Red Cross was called to the scene to help the at least five displaced residents.

It was unclear if the blaze was caused by fireworks but fire investigators were suspicious it could be a cause, Lopez said.

“It’s tragic,” the batallion chief said. “People are trying to have a good time, they’re trying to have a good night and it goes bad. But fireworks just offer that threat.

“We don’t know if that’s the cause today, but we’re going to certainly looking into that possibility.”

No civilians or firefighters were injured.